Gavin Blackburn

Gavin Blackburn is a former Scotland U21 international rugby union player for Glasgow Warriors, who played at the Tighthead Prop position.

Blackburn played for Saracens.^[1] He started there as an apprentice.^[2]

Blackburn played for London Scottish till 1999, when he was signed by Glasgow Hawks.^[3]

He was then called up to Glasgow Warriors.^[4] He played in all but one of Glasgow's pre-season friendlies of the 1999 - 2000 season; including the home match against Ulster Rugby^[5] and making the trip to Canada to play the Ontario Rugby Union^[6] and Uruguay A.^[7] The only exception was the final match of the Canadian tour, the Canadian Tri-Continental Tournament final against Edinburgh Rugby, where Blackburn was an unused substitute.^[8]

He returned to Glasgow after the successful Canadian tour but his time at the Hawks was short. In November 1999 he was moved on to Glasgow Southern.^[9] This move to a lower ranked club effectively ended Blackburn's Warriors career and he did not play a further game for the professional provincial side. Hawks spokesman Hugh Barrow said: "Gavin hasn't been able to establish a regular place since arriving from London Scottish. He can't be blamed for wanting to seek first team action."

In 2001, he moved to Stirling County.^[10] An achilles injury curtailed his career.^[2]

He later went on to coach Biggar RFC from 2014. "Biggar is a huge club and one I remember playing against," he said. "It was always a hard game and the support was tremendous. They struggled last season but my job will be to create a culture where everybody enjoys rugby and ultimately starts winning again," said the 35-year-old former Dunfermline coach and SRU development officer. "We will look to bring players in but they have to be the right type of player, on and off the pitch."^[1] However Blackburn announced he would quit his coaching role in February 2016 due to family commitments and work pressures.^[11]

References